{"id":1656,"date":"2014-10-02T11:46:17","date_gmt":"2014-10-02T16:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sherrythomas.com\/blog\/?p=1656"},"modified":"2014-10-02T11:46:14","modified_gmt":"2014-10-02T16:46:14","slug":"fall-ya-scavenger-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sherrythomas.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/02\/fall-ya-scavenger-hunt\/","title":{"rendered":"Fall YA Scavenger Hunt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello and welcome to <\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/h1>\n

the Fall 2014 YA <\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/h1>\n

Scavenger<\/span><\/em><\/strong>Hunt!<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/h1>\n

\"scavenger<\/a><\/p>\n

I am Sherry Thomas, your host for this leg of the hunt. (Don’t forget to enter my bonus contest below, while you are here.)<\/p>\n

\"Thomas_green\"<\/a><\/p>\n

About Me<\/p>\n

I love reading while I eat–or is it eating while I read?<\/p>\n

I drink super-weak tea. My friends say it’s just slightly dirty water.<\/p>\n

Someday I would like to write a book while lazing on the shores of Lake Como.<\/p>\n

Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This bi-annual event was first organized by author\u00a0Colleen Houck<\/span><\/a>\u00a0as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors…and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive\u00a0<\/span>one signed book from each author on the hunt in my team<\/b>!\u00a0<\/b>But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 72 hours!<\/span>

\"Team\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Go to the\u00a0YA Scavenger Hunt<\/span><\/a>\u00a0page to find out all about the hunt.\u00a0<\/b>There are SIX contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the\u00a0GOLD TEAM<\/span>–but there is also a red team, a blue\u00a0team, an orange team, a red team, and an indie team for a chance to win a whole different set of signed books!<\/span>

If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to\u00a0the YA Scavenger Hunt page<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE<\/b><\/p>\n

\"scavenger_hunt_2\"<\/a>\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Directions:<\/b>\u00a0Below, you’ll notice that I’ve listed my\u00a0favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the GOLD TEAM<\/span>, and then add them up (don’t worry, you can use a calculator!). HINT: The secret number is highlighted in GOLD<\/span>.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Entry Form:<\/b>\u00a0Once you’ve added up all the numbers,\u00a0make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize<\/span><\/a>. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Rules:<\/b>\u00a0Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by October 5, 2014<\/b>, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Now that you know exactly what to do, let me introduce the author I am hosting, the lovely and talented\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Kate Karyus Quinn<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

\"Kate<\/a> Kate Karyus Quinn is an avid reader and a menthol ChapStick addict. She has lived in California and Tennessee, but recently made the move back to her hometown of Buffalo, New York, with her husband and two children in tow. She promised them wonderful people, amazing food, and weather that would . . . build character. She is also the author of\u00a0<\/span>Another Little Piece<\/em>.<\/span> To find out more about Kate and her books, visit her website<\/a>, follow her on twitter<\/a>, and connect with her on Goodreads<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The book Kate Karyus Quinn\u00a0<\/span>is showcasing on the YA Scavenger Hunt is<\/p>\n

(DON’T YOU) FORGET ABOUT ME<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n
\"don't<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Welcome to Gardnerville.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

A place where no one gets sick. And no one ever dies . . . of natural causes.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

But there’s a price to pay for paradise. Every four years, the strange power that fuels the town takes its toll and a teenager commits a horrible crime\u2014a crime that sends other teens to their graves. And every four years, the killer is locked up in the reformatory, only to emerge years later, a shell of their former self.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Four years ago, Skylar’s sister, Piper, was taken away after leading her classmates onto the trestle bridge and commanding them to jump to their deaths. Since then, Skylar has lived in a numb haze, waiting for Piper to be released. But the secrets Piper left behind keep taunting Skylar\u2014whispering that the only way to truly get her sister back is to stop Gardnerville’s murderous cycle once and for all.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

KATE KARYUS QUINN’S <\/span><\/h2>\n

EXCLUSIVE CONTENT<\/span><\/h2>\n
For the YA Scavenger Hunt Kate’s\u00a0editor has given her permission to give an exclusive first sneak peek of her\u00a0next book, DOWN WITH THE SHINE, coming in early 2016 from HarperTeen!<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

PROLOGUE<\/div>\n
\n

\u201cI gave you my name for a reason, Lennie. It might not be worth much now, but someday, someday real soon, I\u2019m gonna make it so Cash is a name nobody ever forgets. I\u2019m serious, Lennie. People are gonna remember us, and they\u2019ll look at us different because of it too.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I was a little kid, I didn\u2019t get tucked into bed with a story or a song, but instead the ravings of my father. The nightly routine ended on my sixth birthday. That\u2019s the day when he made the nightly news for the first time and they re-christened Leonard Cash the Bad Daddy Bandit.<\/p>\n

Over the next two months Daddy and I crisscrossed the country on a hold-em-up-shoot-em-down robbing spree. With me in tow, he took down six banks, three toy stores, and killed two people who\u2019d gotten in his way before finally getting pinned down at a Chuck E. Cheese. Daddy got away by taking the guy inside the mouse costume as a hostage. They found me hours later, burrowed deep in the ball pit, still waiting for Daddy\u2019s all-clear whistle.<\/p>\n

The only place I\u2019ve seen him since then is on the FBI\u2019s 10 Most Wanted webpage.<\/p>\n

All that was eleven years ago, but that\u2019s not the sort of story that people forget. Maybe if I\u2019d become some super-smart honors student nerd or a chipper rah-rah leadership council type or a sporty girl whose addition to any team meant it was headed for the trophy rounds, maybe then they\u2019d think of it a little less often. But I\u2019ve had adults call me the devil\u2019s spawn to my face and the kids at school find even more creative ways of making me miserable. So mostly I just look like your typical sullen angry teenager.<\/p>\n

Except I\u2019m not your typical teenager. I\u2019m Lennie Cash and most people think it\u2019s just a matter of time before my daddy comes back for me and then the two of us pick up where we left off at the Chuck E. Cheese oh so many years ago.<\/p>\n

And that famous name is a big part of why at this exact moment, instead of dividing my time in English class between clock-watching and trying to figure out exactly how those two crazy kids, Romeo and Juliet, managed to mess things up so badly, I\u2019m sitting in the principal\u2019s office while she and a cop give me the \u2018bad blood will tell\u2019 glare.<\/p>\n

This is the third time I\u2019ve been called down to the office for one of these sessions since my best friend, Dylan, went missing two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

The first meeting was more of a \u201cwe\u2019re all on the same team\u201d informal type of chat. That\u2019s when we all thought Dyl was a runaway. I told them I didn\u2019t know anything, which was half-true and that I hadn\u2019t heard from her, which was totally true. When I left the room, I\u2019d only caught the slightest whiff of \u201cof course the Cash kid is involved with this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Things were a little more serious the second time. This was after they\u2019d found Dylan\u2019s car at a rather infamous bar on the outskirts of town. They asked me if Dylan went there a lot. If I\u2019d ever been there. Mostly they were fishing, waiting for me to slip up. Or at least that\u2019s the only reason I can think of for why they never came right out and said anything about the rumors that Leonard Cash had been supposedly spotted at this bar more than a few times and that some even said he might be the owner.<\/p>\n

The one thing they didn\u2019t skirt around was asking about the very public fight I\u2019d had with Dylan the day before she disappeared. \u201cI heard you were very angry,\u201d my principal, Mrs. Kneeley, said, trying to look concerned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, yeah, we were fighting,\u201d I answered, sounding sarcastic and, yes, angry.<\/p>\n

A lawyer probably would have told me to keep my mouth shut. But I didn\u2019t have one of those or anyone else. My mom and her three brothers were my official guardians, but none of them were the school meeting types.<\/p>\n

Which meant that if Dyl didn\u2019t show up real soon, I could see this getting real ugly for me. Still I kept my mouth shut and insisted I didn\u2019t remember what the fight was about. I was trying to protect Dylan, trying to give her time to do whatever crazy thing she thought she needed to do before they found her and dragged her back home.<\/p>\n

In my own way, I was trying to make up for that fight. For saying things I shouldn\u2019t have.<\/p>\n

Now though, I think it may be too late cause the cop and Mrs. Kneeley look dead serious. I know without them telling me, that we\u2019re not fucking around anymore.<\/p>\n

The cop leans forward and hands me a Ziploc bag with a piece of paper inside.<\/p>\n

The paper is yellowed with age and red with\u2026<\/p>\n

Not blood. Please tell me it is anything but blood.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou recognize this?\u201d the cop asks. Actually his name is Detective Otto. He\u2019s introduced himself each time we\u2019ve done this, but I still just think of him as the cop.<\/p>\n

I look past the red smears, to the words.<\/p>\n

Yes, I recognize this paper. And I know exactly where they found it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s mine,\u201d I tell him. \u201cFrom when I went to camp a few years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Actually it was more like seven years. I\u2019d begged my uncles to send me, thinking I could spend a week with a bunch of kids who didn\u2019t know my name. Of course, the counselors recognized my name and figured everything else out pretty quickly\u2026 and then it slowly trickled down to every kid there. At the end of two weeks, after being caught at the center of the first brawl in Camp Onawanta history, I came home with my official happy camper certificate shoved into my suitcase. It said:\u00a0Lennie Cash earned the following Camp Onawanta badges:_____________. Instead of writing on that line how I\u2019d learned to ride a horse or dive into the lake, the camp director had written:\u00a0I\u2019m sorry but I don\u2019t think Lennie and Camp Onawanta are a good fit. She will not be allowed back next year<\/i>.<\/p>\n

I never showed it to my uncles, I just crumpled it up and shoved it under the ripped lining of the suitcase. Now seeing it again, I feel the old shame and embarrassment come up, filling my throat. I want to grab the paper from the cop and rip it to pieces, but he\u2019s already tucking the plastic enclosed piece of my past into his manila folder.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you know where we found this?\u201d he asks.<\/p>\n

I nod. \u201cIn my old suitcase. Dylan borrowed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few weeks before she disappeared, Dyl found the suitcase at the back of my closet, where it had sat since that disastrous camp experience, and declared it, \u201cAwesomely vintage.\u201d I gifted it to her on the spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you know where we found that suitcase?\u201d the cop leaned in, his voice hard.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d I whispered the word, suddenly afraid. The red stains. This new urgent angry tone.<\/p>\n

Something was wrong. Or worse than wrong. I wasn\u2019t worried about Dyl before this moment. She is tough and fearless and\u2026 reckless. It now occurs to me that maybe I should have been worried. Dyl is the exact type of person to be stamped with an early expiration date.<\/p>\n

Done with playing it cool, I lean in towards the cop. \u201cIs Dylan in trouble? Did you find her?\u201d<\/p>\n

In the moment before he answers, I say a quick prayer. Not one in the traditional sense, but more like playing Let\u2019s Make a Deal with God\u2014or whatever it is out there that keeps the world spinning. If Dylan returns in one piece, I\u2019ll destroy my uncles\u2019 distillery and shut down their moonshine making operation. If I were God, I\u2019d think that was a pretty good deal. My uncles\u2019 moonshine has been the cause of countless troubles and sorrows; seems like nipping it in the bud would save him a whole lot of headaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, you could say that we found her,\u201d the Cop looks angry and too late I figure out he\u2019s one of those people who hates me on principal.<\/p>\n

Still, he\u2019s the guy with the answers, so I ask, \u201cShe okay?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you think?\u201d He asks and then pulls out another paper from his folder and slaps it down in front of me.<\/p>\n

This is the moment when God laughs at my stupid little deal. When he tells me where I can shove it.<\/p>\n

Because what I see isn\u2019t a paper, but a photograph. At first I can\u2019t make sense of the image. The purple plaid of Dyl\u2019s favorite flannel shirt mixed with red red red and then feet and her dyed black hair and a hand…<\/p>\n

My brain actually refuses to understand exactly what I\u2019m seeing until the cop helpfully adds, \u201cOr most of her anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDetective!\u201d Mrs. Kneeley, looking as sick as I feel, reaches past him to flip the photo over and hide it from view.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s too late, though. Much too late.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s how I find out that my battered old suitcase, patched up with duct tape and kept closed only with the help of an old leather belt, now carries the butchered remnants of my best friend.<\/p>\n

********<\/p>\n

If that doesn’t give you<\/p>\n

21<\/span><\/h1>\n

kinds of shivers, I don’t know what does! Brava, Kate. You can buy (DON’T YOU) FORGET ABOUT ME\u00a0at Amazon<\/a>, B&N<\/a>, and Powell’s<\/a>.<\/p>\n

********<\/p>\n

Thank you so much for being part of the YA Scavenger Hunt and for allowing me to be your host.<\/p>\n

BONUS GIVEAWAY<\/p>\n

Because THE HIDDEN BLADE, the book I am showcasing during YASH, features a girl learning to be a deadly martial arts expert, for an extra bonus entry, answer this question on the blog: If you were a kickass martial arts expert, what would be your weapon of choice? a Rafflecopter giveaway<\/a>